


Prentice and Jones

by l-ouresdeLuna (facemyJam)



Series: Rose Stays [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-Episode AU: s02e13 Doomsday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-23 13:43:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11403612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/facemyJam/pseuds/l-ouresdeLuna
Summary: Rose and Martha meet to save the moon.Part Two of the Rose Stays series.





	1. Adrift

**Author's Note:**

> My parents are being mean and I need some loving right now, so I'm posting this.
> 
> Happy Fourth of July guys

For a while after dropping Donna off, Rose just drifted in the Vortex. She slept and ate and read books and sat in the bath ‘til the water cooled, and that was her life.Occasionally, she would shake things up by crying for the whole day, instead. And as she processed her grief, really and truly processed it, Rose and the TARDIS grew closer together. She was now able to understand how the Doctor was still going after watching his whole world crumble to dust.

 

Her mind kept going back to what Donna told her, that she needed someone to hold her hand. She had found that someone in the Doctor, and then one slip up led her to being all alone. Not that she was blaming the Doctor for falling, it was more like she was blaming  _ herself _ for falling. She knew that the Doctor couldn’t give her his forever, but it never mattered to her. Not when she was staring death in the face everyday with him by her side. Not when he smiled at her like she was the only thing he could see. It just never seemed important until his hand was gone from hers.

 

She believed the Doctor would find a way back to her, but when would that happen? How old would she be when he finally popped back into existence? And how would their time apart affect them? She was counting the days until he came home, and also dreading the day he would. Would he even recognise her? Would she recognise him? If she were to be on her own for however long it took him to get back, how much would she change?

 

_ “And you'll keep on changing. And in forty years time, fifty, there'll be this woman, this strange woman, walking through the marketplace on some planet a billion miles from Earth. But she's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human.” _

 

Just how much truth was there to her mother’s words? Rose was scared, so, so scared that those words were going to come true. That when the Doctor came back to her, he’ll look right past her because she wasn’t Rose Tyler anymore. Is this what the Doctor felt like when he got a new face? Like a stranger in a stranger's skin?

 

She needed a drink. All these depressing thoughts required at least three shots of hypervodka. Only, they hadn’t really restocked the wet bar since Jack had left. Jack. Now there was somebody who she needed right about now. He would know just the thing to say to cheer her up. And he was better at taking care of the TARDIS than she was. What if something happened to the Old Girl and Rose couldn’t fix her?

 

“Can we go see Jack?” She asks aloud to the room. She knew the TARDIS was psychic or whatever- Telepathic, that was it- but Rose talked out loud so she would hear a voice. Even hers would do, for now.

 

The TARDIS makes a noise that sounds like a cough, like She didn’t want to talk about it.

 

“What’s the matter? I want to see Jack,” Rose tells her. A dismissive noise echoes around the room and Rose frowns. “Well, why not? I should think it would be okay as long as it’s sometime after he helps the survivors on Earth.” A loud bang startles Rose and she wonders why the TARDIS was being so stubborn.

 

She gets up from where she was sitting in the Library and walks to the console room. “Alright, Girl, you tell me why I can’t see my friend!” Rose demands pointing a finger at the Time Rotor. A sad chime creeps up her spine and Rose loses her fire. Why was asking about Jack sad?

 

A hologram comes to life and she goes around the console to get a better view. It shows her back and she’s practically glowing as hologram her steps out of the TARDIS. Rose looks over her hologram’s shoulder to see the layout for the Gamestation.

 

_ “What have you done?” _ the Doctor’s voice floats to her and Rose can just make out his scared face.

 

_ “I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me,”  _ hologram her told him and Rose gasps. How could she forget that? How could she forget coming back to him?

 

_ “You looked into the Time Vortex,” _ the Doctor told her.  _ “Rose, no one’s meant to see that.” _ He sounded frightened. Rose was right behind him.

 

_ “This is the Abomination!” _ The Dalek’s Emperor shouted through the comm’s and Rose remembers this. She dreamt about it. It was hazy, but she had a dream about killing him. The Doctor had told her she had, in fact, killed the Emperor when she confronted him about her dream. He hadn’t told her much more than that. The dark look on his face made her not want to.

 

_ “Exterminate!” _ a Dalek shouted and fired upon her. The hologram her raised her hand and stopped the beam. Well, that was new. Or, old. Her head was hurting just thinking about it. Or was it because she was trying to remember this for herself instead of being shown it?

 

 _“I am the Bad Wolf,”_ her hologram stated and Rose gasped again. Bad Wolf, the words that had followed them everywhere they went. _“I create myself. I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here.”_ _Well, that’s a crappy message_ , Rose thinks. It wasn’t like she followed the clues or nothing.

 

_ “Rose, you’ve got to stop this. You’ve got to stop this now. You’ve got the entire Vortex running through your head. You’re going to burn,” _ the Doctor urges her, pleads with her.

 

_ “I want you safe, My Doctor. Protected from the false god,” _ her hologram responds and Rose can feel the tears fall down her face as she looks on.

 

_ “You cannot hurt me. I am immortal,” _ the Emperor tells her.

 

_ “You are tiny.” _ Rose mimes the words at the same time as hologram her says them.  _ “I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them.” _ Rose faintly registers the Dalek’s fading to dust.  _ “Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends.” _

 

_ “Rose, you’ve done it. Now stop. Just let it go,”  _ the Doctor pleads with her.

 

_ “How can I let go of this?” _ her hologram asks.

 

“I bring life,” Rose gasps out falling to her knees. The memory hits her like a tonne of bricks. Jack. He died. He  _ died _ and she had brought him  _ back _ .

 

_ “But why do they hurt?” _ her hologram asks the Doctor and Rose claps her hands over her ears. She didn’t want to know anymore.

 

_ “The power’s going to kill you and it’s my fault,”  _ she faintly hears the Doctor tell hologram her and Rose shakes her head. That’s not true. She chose to do this. She chose to come back and save him.

 

_ “I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be,” _ hologram her says and Rose sobs as pain splits her head in half.

 

_ “That’s what I see. All the time,”  _ the Doctor tells her. _ “And doesn’t it drive you mad?” _

 

“ **My head** ,” both Rose’s say together.

 

_ “Come here,”  _ the Doctor says and only the hologram Rose complies.

 

_ “It’s killing me,” _ hologram her sobs out.

 

_ “I think you need a Doctor,” _ the Doctor tells her and Rose looks up just in time to see him kiss her. She pulls herself into a ball right there on the ramp.

 

“Turn it off, please,” she whispers and she can hear the hologram cut out. “I’m sorry,” she tells the TARDIS. Sorry for demanding, sorry for hurting Her Doctor, sorry for screwing everything up. Jack probably left because she made him into something else. He probably couldn’t even look at her after what she had done. The Doctor had lied to protect her and the truth hurt so much more than she thought.

 

The TARDIS chimes in sorrow and Rose can feel her mind echo the sentiment. She stands and makes her way to her room. Just another thing to cry over.

 

\--

 

In the morning, she wakes up with a monster of a headache and a weight pressing down on her heart.

 

“I-” she thinks how to say this. “Take me somewhere where I can remember them. I want to remember them.” She takes a quick shower and forces herself into the console room. This was a place of joy and happiness and it won’t be ruined by one bad memory. At least, that’s what she told herself in the shower.

 

She barely has the energy to circle the console to press and flick the buttons and levers. It felt like the TARDIS was making the process longer than necessary, but it could’ve also been due to Rose dragging her feet.

 

They land without the usual jarring thud, which Rose is grateful for. She doesn’t even check the monitor to see where they are, she just walks to the door and opens it. Wherever she was, it was dim and spacious.

 

“Hello, there,” a cheery voice calls out to her. Rose turns to see a bright yellow man with four eyes and four arms waving the left two at her. He’s sitting down on a stool with what looks like a dentist chair beside him.

 

“Hi,” she greets back weakly.

 

“Oh, so it’s one of those, is it?” he asks and Rose is confused.

 

“Sorry?”

 

“You’ve come to remember,” he tells her and Rose nods, wondering how he knew that. He gives her a sad smile and gestures her over to the chair next to him. Rose doesn’t know why, but she feels safe, so she complies and goes over to the chair and sits down.

 

“How’d you know?” she asks him as he takes out sheets of what looks like paper and several brushes.

 

“It’s my job,” he explains. “I give to those who want to remember, to those who have forgotten, and to those seeking the emotions of the Universe.”

 

“And how do you do that?” He gives her a fond smile patting her on the arm in a grandfatherly way.

 

“I don’t do anything, my dear. You are the one who does all the work.” He sees her confused expression and gestures to the maybe-paper and brushes. “These are my instruments to which I give you permission to use.”

 

“I don’t know how to use ‘em, though,” Rose points out to him.

 

“Oh, but you will, my dear.” He pats her arm again before turning away to collect a jar of clear liquid. “My name is Jomtir. In the language of my people, it means Freedom From Fear.”

 

“‘M Rose,” she tells him. “‘S just a flower where I’m from.”

 

“Nothing is just anything, dear Rose,” Jomtir tells her. “Now, you are here to remember. How many do you wish to remember?” 

 

Rose’s mouth goes dry at the question. How many? All of them. Every single person she’s come across, but she still doesn’t know what Jomtir’s job was so she settled for her family.

 

“Seven,” she responds after a minute of thinking. Her mum, Mickey, the Doctor, Tony, her sort of dad, and Jack. She wanted to remember the good times they had over what she had done to him. She was also including the TARDIS, her new home.


	2. The One With All The Aliens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Martha is having a Day man.

Martha’s phone rings as she’s getting ready for work. “You’re up early,” she tells her sister.

 

_ “It’s a nightmare,” _ Tish says in lieu of a greeting.  _ “Because Dad won’t listen, and I’m telling ya, Mum is going mental. Swear to god, Martha, this is epic. You’ve got to get in there and stop him.” _

 

“How do I do that?”

 

_ “Tell him he can’t bring her,” _ Tish says.

 

Martha’s about to reply when her phone beeps indicating she’s got another call. “Hold on, that’s Leo. I’ll call you back,” she tells her sister before switching over to Leo’s line.

 

_ “Martha, if mum and dad start to kick off, tell ‘em I don’t even want a party. I didn’t even ask for one. They can always give me money instead,” _ Leo spouts at her.

 

“Yeah, but why do I have to tell them? Why can’t you?” Her phone beeps at her again and Martha rolls her eyes. “Hold on, that’s mum, I’ll call you back.”

 

_ “I don’t mind your father making a fool of himself in private, but this is Leo’s 21st, everyone is going to be there, and the entire family is going to look ridiculous,”  _ her mother tells her.

 

“Mum, it’s a party. I can’t stop dad from bringing his girlfriend.” Her phone gives yet  _ another _ beep and Martha sees that it’s her dad. “Hold on, that’s dad, I’ll call you back.”

 

_ “Martha?” _ Her dad asks and then starts talking without waiting for answer.  _ “Now, tell your mother, Leo is my son, and I’m paying for half that party. I’m entitled to bring who I like,” _ her dad demands.

 

“I know,” Martha placates. “But think what it’s going to look like for mum, if you’re standing there with Annalise.”

 

_ “What’s wrong with Annalise?”  _ Her dad asks her.

 

_ “Is that Martha?” _ Martha hears.  _ “Say hi. Hi, Martha, hi!” _ Annalise shouts at her.

 

“Hi, Annalise,” Martha replies with a smile.

 

_ “Big kiss, lots of love, see you at the party, babe. Now, take me shopping, big boy.”  _ That was more than Marth wanted- than she  _ needed _ \- to know about her father.

 

Martha sighs as she pockets her mobile, glad to be free of everyone nagging in her ear. She loved her family, truly she did, but they chose her as the mediator for everything and it grew tiresome after a while.

 

“Like so,” a blonde woman tells her stopping before her and yanking a tie out of her pocket and putting it on. “See?” she asks before walking right on by without looking back.  _ Right then _ , Martha thinks as she keeps on walking.

 

\--

 

“I was alright this morning,” Mrs. Florence explains to Mr. Stoker and the interns gathered around her bed. “And then, I don’t know. I woke up and I felt all dizzy again. It was worse than when I came in.”

 

Mr. Stoker, who was taking her pulse throughout her story, gently sets her wrist back on the bed and smiles down at her. “Pulse is slightly thready.” He turns to face the interns. “Well, let’s see what Britain’s finest might suggest. Any idea’s, Morgenstern?”

 

“Dizziness can be a sign of early onset diabetes,” the nervous man Mr. Stoker singled out stuttered.

 

“Hardly early onset,” he turns to Mrs. Florence, “If you’ll forgive me Mrs. Finnegan.” Mrs. Florence looked like she was about to correct him when he carried on over her. “Any more ideas? Swales?”

 

“Er, could recommend a CT scan,” Swales, the only friend Martha had in the intern program, says.

 

“And spend all our money? Jones?”

 

Martha starts when he calls her name and stands straighter as she looks over Mrs. Florence. “We could take bloods and check for Meniere’s disease.”

 

“Or we could simply ask the patient,” he tells them with a small roll of his eyes. “What did you have for dinner last night?”

 

“I had salad,” Mrs. Florence tells him.

 

“And the night before?”

 

“Salad again.” Mr. Stoker nods his head as if he expected it.

 

“And salad every night for the past week, contrary to my instructions. Salt deficiency, that’s all. Simple, honest salt.” He said it so smugly that Martha felt more like hitting him than writing down his “pearl of wisdom”, as he called his lessons.

 

\--

 

Mr. Stoker was rambling on about Hippocrates and salt deficiency when Martha spots two blokes decked out in leather head to toe, coming out of the lift. They creeped Martha out as they walked in sync, like a mirror image. She steps away from them as they march past.

 

\--

 

Mr. Stoker pushes back a curtain to reveal their next patient, a young bloke who was quite easy on the eyes.

 

“Now then, Mr. Smith, a very good morning to you. How are you today?” Mr. Stoker asks him.

 

“Oh, not so bad. Still a bit, you know… blah,” Mr. Smith responded a smile on his face despite what he just said.

 

“John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains,” Mr. Stoker read off the nurses notes. “Jones, why don’t you see what you can find. Amaze me.” Martha was shocked to be called upon, but moves to grab her stethoscope when she sees a flash of blonde hair and a blue jacket. She looks for the girl from this morning, but doesn’t get another glimpse.

 

“As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary, Ms. Jones,” Mr. Stoker says to her. Right, she was supposed to be checking the patient’s heartbeat. She fumbles with her stethoscope in her haste and Mr. Stoker rolls his eyes again. “I weep for future generations,” he mutters under his breath and Martha bites down on her lip as she finally listens in, only, his heartbeat sounds weird and echoey. She checks the other side of his chest to hear a strong heartbeat and an echoing heartbeat. That wasn’t normal.

 

“Are you having trouble locating the heart, Ms. Jones?” Mr. Stoker calls out from behind her, demanding her assessment.

 

“Er, I don’t know. Stomach cramps?” she suggests mentally slapping her forehead as she says the words. The patient winks at her and Martha would have blushed in excitement if she weren’t already flushed with embarrassment.

 

“That is a symptom, not a diagnosis,” Mr. Stoker tells her without any inflection to his voice. “And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient’s chart.” Mr. Stoker goes to pick up the chart and receives a spark of static shock.

 

“That happened to me this morning,” Martha points out.

 

“I had the same thing on the door handle,” Morgenstern adds.

 

“And me, on the lift,” Swales adds as well. Mr. Stoker just heaves a sigh.

 

“That’s only to be expected. There’s a thunderstorm moving in and lightning is a form of static electricity, as was first proven by, anyone?”

 

“Benjamin Franklin!” The patient answers with a goofy grin on his face.

 

“Correct,” Mr. Stoker says with a small air of approval.

 

“My mate, Ben. That was a day and a half. I got rope burns off that kite, and then I got soaked...,” the patient trailed off as they thought more on the memory.

 

“Quite,” Mr. Stoker tells the man, clearly not expecting the story the man had just told him.

 

“And then I got electrocuted!” The man was back to his puppy smile, oblivious to the shock he had just given the people before him.

 

“Moving on,” Mr. Stoker tells the interns with a wave of his hand. “I think perhaps a visit from psychiatric,” he whispers to a nearby nurse who nods. Martha looks back and grins at the strange man with gravity defying hair. She rather liked him, even if he was a loon. He shot her back a blinding grin and Martha went on her way.

 

\--

 

They finish the first half of their rounds before lunch break and Martha finds herself on the phone talking to her sister.

 

“No, Listen,” she tells Tish with a satisfied smile on her face. “I’ve worked out a plan. We tell Annalise that the buffet tonight is one hundred percent carbohydrate, and she won’t turn up.”

 

Tish scoffs.  _ “I wish you’d take this seriously. That’s our inheritance she’s spending, on fake tan. Tell you what, I’m not that far away, I’ll drop by for a sandwich and we can draw up a battle plan.” _

 

Martha looks out the window to see rain splashing against the glass. “In this weather? I’m not going out. It’s pouring down.”

 

_ “It’s not raining here,” _ Tish says before her voice goes quiet.  _ “That’s weird. It’s raining right on top of you, I can see it, but it’s dry where I am.” _

 

“Well, lucky you,” Martha says distracted by the flash of blonde hair and a blue jacket.

 

_ “No,” _ Tish tells her,  _ “but it’s like in cartoons. You know, when a man’s got a cloud over his head.” _ Martha ignores her comment and gets back to the party talk.

 

“I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We tell dad and Annalise to get there early, about seven thirty, and we tell Leo get there at the same time so we can do all that birthday stuff. We tell mum to get there for about eight thirty, nine, and that gives me time to have a word with Annalise, and-” she cuts off when her fellow intern, Swales, clutches onto her arm.

 

“What?” Martha asks her.

 

“The rain,” Swales pants out, her eyes big as she stares out the window.

 

“It’s only rain,” Martha responds.

 

_ “Martha, have you seen the rain?”  _ Tish asks and Martha raises an eyebrow.

 

“Why’s everyone fussing about rain?”

 

“It’s going up,” Swales says at the same time her sister calls from her mobile,  _ “The rain is going up.” _

 

Martha looks over to the window to see raindrops tracing  _ up _ the window instead of  _ down _ . Before she can wrap her head around the thought that gravity was failing, the room shakes, tossing her to the ground as hospital equipment explodes all around her.

 

When the shaking stops, Martha looks around for Swales. “What the Hell was that?” she asks shakily as she sits up.

 

“Are you alright?” Swales asks as she helps Martha up. They both wipe away the wrinkles from their clothes.

 

“I think so, yeah. It felt like an earthquake, or-”

 

“Martha?” Swales interrupts. “It’s night. Look. It was lunchtime.” They both step closer to the window and Martha can feel her breath leave her body.

 

“It’s not night,” she tells her.

 

“But, it’s got to be,” Swales says shaking her head. “It’s dark.”

 

“We’re on the moon,” Martha breathes out, a smile on her face as she stares at the scenery before her.

 

“We can’t be,” Swales denies.

 

“We’re on the moon,” Martha repeats. “We’re on the bloody  _ moon _ !” She runs out of the small break room and to the nearest hall of windows, Swales following her for something to do. Everyone is panicking, Martha can hear the screams of those who have yet to accept the fact of them being on the moon. She steps into a room with a bay of hospital beds and clears her throat.

 

“All right now,” she shouts above the noise. “Everyone back to bed. We’ve got an emergency, but we’ll sort it out. Don’t worry,” she placates before going over to the long row of windows.

 

“It’s real. It’s really real,” Martha says in awe. The view was just as stunning as it was in the break room. “Hold on,” she says moving to open the window, but Swales grabs her wrist.

 

“ _ Don’t! _ We’ll lose all the air,” she pleads and Martha frowns.

 

“But they’re not exactly air tight. If the air was going to get sucked out it would have happened straight away, but it didn’t. So how come?” She asks. A blonde woman appears in between the two of them, knocking her wrist from Swales’ grip. She’s looking out the window with interest, hand to chin and everything.

 

“Tha’s a good point,” she mutters before turning to look at Martha full on, and it’s the blonde from this morning! “What’s your name?”

 

“Martha,” Martha replies automatically before regaining her wits. “Hang on! You were the one from this morning!” The blonde furrows her brow.

 

“What?”

 

“You put on a tie in front of me before walking off,” Martha accuses.

 

“What? No, I didn’t,” the blonde denies but Martha knows it was her.

 

“What then, you got a twin sister?” Martha asks her.

 

“No, no family,” the blonde says looking down before turning to Swales, who was crying. “Hey, now, don’t do that. It’s going to be okay.”

 

“We can’t be breathing!” Swales spits out between cries and the blonde lays a hand on her shoulder.

 

“But we are, so I would focus on that. ‘Sides,” the blonde says. “You’re a doctor. Don’t you have patients to check on? I know you’re scared, but think about them. They’re injured and scared, and that’s going to lead them to make some bad choices. You should really be there for them. Focus on them and you’ll start to calm down.”

 

Martha blinks in surprise. The woman was gentle, yet firm at the same time and she got Swales to stop crying! 

 

“Who are you?” she asks without meaning to. The blonde turns to her and smiles.

 

“I’m Rose. Rose Prentice. Do you have a balcony on this floor?” Martha nods and points behind her.

 

“Yeah, just off the patients’ lounge.”

 

“Fancy peeking out the doors?” Rose asks her.

 

“Okay,” Martha says automatically. She hadn’t thought when she answered, but she wanted to go.

 

“We might die,” Rose warns her.

 

“We might not,” Martha shoots back and Rose gives her another beaming smile before setting off. She reminds Martha of that man, the new patient brought in for stomach cramps. It wasn’t anything big, but they both had that bounce to them that made Martha feel happy just by being near.

 

\--

 

They reach the glass doors and Martha hesitantly opens them to step out onto the balcony. She takes a deep breath and laughs silently when she finds she can breathe.

 

“We’ve got air! How does that work?”

 

“I would just be glad it does,” Rose mutters looking over the edge of the concrete railing.

 

“I’ve got a party tonight,” Martha tells her as she looks out at the Earth. “It’s my brother’s 21st. My mother’s going to be really, really…,” she trails off as she takes in her home planet.

 

“You okay?” Rose asks laying a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Are you sure? We could go back in if you want.”

 

“No way!” Martha blurts out. “I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same, its beautiful.”

 

“It is, isn’t it?”

 

“How many people want to go to the moon? And here we are,” Martha points out grinning.

 

“A mate of mine has always wanted to come here, but he never did,” Rose shares and Martha looks over to her. She’s got a sad smile on her face as she stares at the Earth leaning her elbows on the concrete balcony railing, rubbing at something on her wrist.

 

“He wanted to come to the moon?”

 

“Yeah, he was always going on and on about it. Drove me barmy when we were kids.” Rose looks sad and Martha doesn’t think anything she says can cheer her up, so she switches subjects.

 

“What do you suppose happened?” Martha asks and Rose shrugs.

 

“Do you have a theory?” Rose asks back.

 

“Extraterrestrial,” Martha states confidently. “It’s got to be. I don’t know, a few years ago that would’ve sounded mad, but these days? That spaceship flying into Big Ben, Christmas, those Cybermen things,” Martha lists before remembering the day her family was told of Adeola’s death. “I had a cousin, Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home.”

 

“I was there,” Rose whispers.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Me an’ my family were there,” Rose says standing up straight, her hands tugging at the bottom of her blue leather jacket. “An’ after it was all over… I was alone. I’m sorry about your cousin, Martha.” Martha gives her a small smile and a nod, all the while wondering how Rose could lose her whole family just weeks ago and find it in her to smile. Now that she knew it was there, it was another similarity to that strange man. He, too, had sad eyes.

 

“Thank you,” she tells her. “I promise, Mrs. Prentice, we will find a way out. If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There’s got to be a way.” Rose gives her a confused look.

 

“Mrs.? I’m not married.” Martha blinks and waves a hand at Rose’s hand.

 

“But you’re wearing a wedding ring.” Rose looks down in surprise at her left hand and Martha wonders why she’s shocked. Shouldn’t she know that she’s wearing a wedding ring? It  _ is _ her hand after all.

 

“Right,” Rose says after a couple of seconds of awkward silence. “I knew that. Uhm, we better find a way fast, though.” Martha is thrown for a second before remembering what she said to Rose.

 

“Why’s that?”

 

“Because I think this is all the air we’ve got,” Rose responds biting her bottom lip.

 

“What makes you think that?” Martha asks a feeling of dread crawl up her spine. Rose shrugs before leaning back on the balcony railing before her.

 

“Feels like a snowglobe,” she says and Martha is confused once more. What does a snowglobe and their current condition have to do with each other? “Ooh, finally. Now we can get some answers!” Rose walks back inside leaving Martha dumbstruck on the balcony.

 

Martha turns to look at what Rose saw and sees three column things touching down on the moon’s surface.

 

“Aliens. That’s aliens,” she says to herself. “Real, proper  _ aliens! _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you spot the secret?


	3. Hard Truths, Missed Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Running for your life, what else is new?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, but the Doctor was a brief cameo. I wanted to show he was working on the Dimension Cannon faster than cannon Torchwood did, but I want this series to focus mainly on Rose and how she comes into the role of Saviour of the Universe. Once again, sorry.

Mr. Stoker had his binoculars up to his face as he looked out the window. He couldn’t believe his eyes. That was the Earth before them, and there were these things, these _ aliens _ , marching towards them!

 

“Mr. Stoker?” a voice calls out behind him. He turns to see that Finn or something lady standing in his doorway looking scared. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know who else to ask, but can you help me?”

 

“I think we’ve gone beyond aspirin, Ms… er,” he trails off. He was never the sort to bother with remembering names.

 

“Florence,” she tells him and he nods as if he’s known it before she reminded him.

 

“Names. What are names now when something unnameable is marching towards us across the moon? Two more years, I thought,” he rambles. “Two more years and then retire to Florida. But there is Florida, in the sky. I can see it. My daughter, she’s still in university. I am never going to see her again.” He can feel that with all his heart.

 

“But I need help, Mr. Stoker,” Ms. Florence repeats and he waves a hand at her.

 

“I can’t do anything.” Two motorbike men dressed head to toe in leather appear at either side of Ms. Florence in the doorway. Mr. Stoker frowns at them.

 

“What do you two want? It’s a bit too late to sign for anything.”

 

“These are my lovely boys,” Ms. Florence tells him with a proud smile on her face. “I prefer not to get my hands dirty.”

 

“I’m sorry?” Had everyone lost it today?

 

“You see, there are great tests to come, and terrible deeds,” Ms. Florence tells him as they move further into his office. There is no way out for him. “Some of them my own. But if I am to survive this, I need you.”

 

“What are you talking about?” He asks her, unsure if he should make a break for it or not.

 

“Blood,” she states and chills run down his spine. “Specifically, yours.” She snaps her fingers and her two children come around his desk and grab him from either side.

 

“What are you doing? What are you doing?” He demands trying to maintain his calm. “Well, let go of me! What the Hell? Let go!”

 

“You see, I was only salt deficient because I am so very good at absorbing it,” Ms. Florence imparts. “But now I need fire in my veins, and who better than a consultant, with blood full of salty fats and vintage wines and all those Michelin star sauces.” Mr. Stoker swallows thickly and looks back towards Earth one more time.

 

“Who are you?”

 

“Oh, I’m a survivor, Mr. Stoker. At any cost.” She pulls something out of her tiny purse. “Look, I’ve even brought a straw.” Mr. Stoker screams as she jams it into the side of his throat.

 

\--

 

Martha raced after Rose, who was stood in the hospital lobby where the aliens were marching towards. She had her arms crossed and looked like she was about to scold a child and Martha wondered why she felt safer with Rose there.

 

The aliens looked bigger up close, but Rose wasn’t flinching away. Even when two of them take off their helmets to reveal their faces.  _ They look like rhinos _ , was all that Martha could think.

 

“Blo So Fo Do No Cro Blo Co So Ro,” the front one chants flatly. One of the interns, Morgenstern, walks up to them with his arms up.

 

“Er, we are citizens of planet Earth. We welcome you in peace,” he tells them. One of the rhino aliens backs him up into a wall and Rose unfolds her arms, but otherwise stays put.

 

“Please don’t hurt me,” Morgenstern pleads. “I was just trying to help. I’m sorry, don’t hurt me. Please, don’t hurt me.” The alien just pushes a button on the device in his hand and clips it to his belt.

 

“Language assimilated. Designation Earth English. You will be catalogued,” it said roughly and Martha took a step back.

 

“What are you doing here?” Rose calls out to the one that spoke. The alien stomps towards her and Rose tips her chin up in defiance.

 

“You will be catalogued,” it replied.

 

“An’ who are you to order such a thing?” Rose asks and Martha holds her breath. The alien paused for a second before taking something from his belt and holds it out to her.

 

“We are Judoon,” it says simply. Martha can see Rose’s eyes widen in surprise and she wonders how Rose could know of them.

 

“What do the Judoon want with this hospital?”

 

“You will be charged with noncompliance,” the Judoon tells her. Rose digs into her jacket pocket before pulling out a wallet.

 

“Well, you’re not the only one here with credentials,” she tells him as she flips the wallet open. Whatever was on it made the Judoon thing pause before he pressed his right arm across his chest, his hand a fist.

 

“Ma’am,” he said with respect. Martha could tell Rose was shocked by the Judoon’s sudden politeness. Perhaps she hadn’t thought her credentials would do her any good here on the moon.

 

“Answer my question, please. Why are you here?”

 

The Judoon pulls out something else from his belt and hands it to Rose. “To identify humans and find the transgressor,” it tells her as Rose takes the plate of glass from his hands.

 

“There’s a fugitive hiding in the hospital?” Rose asks and Martha looks around the lobby eyeing each and every person as if she could find the fugitive herself. The Judoon nods at Rose as she hands his glass tablet thing back. “Do you have a description of them?”

 

“No.”

 

“So, who are we looking for, then? What species?”  _ Species? _ Martha thinks. Just who or  _ what _ was Rose and how did she know to be here for this?

 

“Plasmavore, charged with the crime of murdering the child princess of Patrival Regency Nine.”

 

Rose frowned walking over to the receptionist desk. “Okay, let me tell the humans that you mean them no harm so they don’t freak out and lash out at you,” she told them as she picked up the phone.

 

“Dial five for the overcomm,” the nurse at the desk told her through her shock.

 

“Attention,” Rose says into the phone’s speaker. Her voice was heard over the intercomm.  _ “The people who brought us here need your cooperation. I know you’re scared, but try to remain calm. All they want is to find somebody so they’re gonna scan ya and then move on. Please, I know what’s happened is confusin’ and upsettin’, but don’t panic. They’ll be on their way sooner than you think. Jus’ let them do their job and it’ll be over shortly.” _

 

Martha, who was strangely calm to begin with, felt better when Rose was talking over the speakerphone. Her voice sounded like she was getting over her shock and panic just like the rest of them. She didn’t know how Rose was connected to these aliens, she was probably an alien herself, but Martha believed her when Rose said it’d be over shortly.

  
  


“Troop five, floor one. Troop six, floor two. Identify humans and find the transgressor,” the head Judoon said before going to another person in the lobby to scan them.

 

Rose hung up the phone and made her way over to Martha, who was being scanned by a Judoon. She received a markered ‘x’ on the back of her left hand and so did Rose, which was surprising. So she wasn’t alien after all. It made Martha even more curious about her. Was she from the future or something?

 

“So, Judoon?” Martha asks when the aliens trudge upstairs to the first floor.

 

“Yep,” Rose replies popping the ‘p’. “They’re like police for hire. The Doctor told me about ‘em las’ Christmas. They usually work for the Shadow Proclamation.” Martha had no idea what any of that meant but she nods her head anyways. Who was the Doctor and what was the Shadow Proclamation? Were they aliens, too?

 

“And they brought us to the moon because?”

 

“Oh, ‘s neutral territory. Sol 3, Earth, is a level 5 planet or summat, which means that they can’t search for the Plasmavore there. A platoon of Judoon upon the moon.” Rose smiles at her own rhyming skills and Martha’s head is spinning even without adding her odd humour to the mix.

 

“I’m going to pretend to know what that means,” Martha says.  _ Level 5? Sol 3? Neutral territory?  _ Who came up with these rules involving the Earth?

 

“Oh, sorry,” Rose says sheepishly. “Jus’ think of them like SWAT searching for someone on the run.” She shrugs like she sees it happen everyday. Maybe she does.

 

“And they don’t know who they’re looking for?” Martha asks looking at the back of her hand. “How could they not know?”

 

“Dunno, maybe they’re a shapeshifter. We could help them,” Rose says shifting her eyes to look at Martha. “If you’re up for it.” Martha thinks about it, warring over staying safe and chasing adventure. She had to know one thing first, though.

 

“Who are you?”

 

“What d’you mean?” Rose asks tilting her head to the side.

 

“I mean, you got the Judoon to listen to you even though the scanner said you’re human. So, who are you?”

 

Rose’s eyes widened in shock, her mouth opening and closing as she tries to come up with an answer. “I’m jus’ Rose Prentice. Tha’s all.”

 

Martha shakes her head. “You showed them ID and everything, so don’t feed me that line,” she pushed raising her voice a little. Rose swallows thickly before pulling out her ID and looking down at it instead of showing it to Martha. She chuckles as she looks at it which confuses Martha even more. Wouldn’t Rose  _ know _ what was on the badge?

 

“Well, what do you know,” she says. “It told the truth for once.” She turns it to face towards Martha.  _ Dame Rose Prentice, Defender of the Earth, Bad Wolf, Companion to The Doctor _ \- it states.

 

“What’s that mean, then?” Martha asks nodding her head to the ID.

 

“It means that Earth is under my protection and I’ll do everything within my power to defend it,” Rose tells her. Martha swallows at Rose’s words, her thoughts racing as she processes all that she’s been told. Should she even trust Rose?  _ Yes _ . Her immediate thought is yes, Rose is a good person, she instinctively knows that.

 

“So, what are we looking for?” Martha asks a few minutes later, mind made up. Rose grins at her.

 

“Is there a patient list? We need to find somebody admitted recently with symptoms that would allow them to stay for a while.”

 

“Mr. Stoker might know,” Martha thinks aloud before gesturing Rose to follow her upstairs.

 

\--

 

“Mr. Stoker?” Martha calls out, opening the door to his office as she knocks on it.

 

One of the patient’s, Mrs. Florence, is standing behind his desk with a straw in her hand, the two blokes decked out in leather standing on either side of Mr. Stoker, holding him up on his feet.

 

“Oh, hello there,” Mrs. Florence calls to them smiling despite being caught doing... whatever she was doing.

 

“What’d you do to ‘im?” Rose asks harshly as she takes Martha’s wrist.

 

“Mr. Stoker here was kind enough to help me,” Mrs. Florence states sweetly gesturing to Mr. Stoker’s dead body. The two bikers drop his body to the floor and take a step towards them. “Kill them,” Mrs. Florence commands and Martha feels a tug on her arm as Rose turns and runs pulling her along.

 

“The Judoon have already done this section,” Rose points out as they see several people mill about with ‘x’s on their hands. “We’ll hafta find ‘em before she does.” They race through the halls as the two biker men chase after them. She could hear their leather creaking behind her and she thinks,  _ Who in their right mind would run in all that leather _ ?  _ Aliens _ , she answers herself a moment later before paying better attention to where they were going.

 

“What happens when she finds them?” Martha pants out. It felt like the air was getting thinner in here and it hurt to breathe too deeply.

 

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid to find out,” Rose replies as they round another corner. Only, it’s a dead end basically. All that’s there is a lift, but Martha wouldn’t it trust it to work properly, what with all the lights flickering intermittently.

 

“Well, we’re screwed,” Martha sighs. She peeks around the corner to see the two biker men stood in the hallway looking around for them. They won’t be able to head down the other hallway without those two seeing them. She tells this to Rose who runs a hand through her hair before turning to the lift and then nods.

 

“Okay, so you can either distract ‘em while I open the lift doors, or I can distract ‘em while you open the lift doors,” Rose tells her. Martha sees the two bikers start walking towards them and swallows.

 

“I- I’ll take the lift,” Martha says backing away from the corner. She felt bad for leaving Rose to take care of the two by herself, but she knew she wouldn’t last long if she were the one doing the distracting.

 

“I thought you’d pick that,” Rose says, not even sounding bitter about getting the short end of the stick. “Use this. Jus’ press the button, pull ‘em apart and stay to the side.” Rose holds out a grey tube thing with a pink tip and Martha wonders what kind of futuristic alien pencil this was to open lift doors.

 

She would’ve asked about the pencil but the bikers come around the corner and she gets to work. She points the eraser end at the doors before yanking on one of them, trying to stay to the side like Rose asked. As she struggled to open the doors she could hear scuffling behind her and hoped Rose was doing okay.

 

When she pressed one side of the doors to the side she understood what Rose was thinking of doing. Just as she came to this realisation, Rose grunted and one of the biker men fell through the opening. Martha closed her eyes so she wouldn’t be tempted to look on as he fell.

 

She opens them again, however, when a body crashes into hers, nearly knocking her and Rose into the lift shaft themselves. She turns her head, but Rose’s hair is blocking her view.

 

“You okay?” She asks as she feels Rose panting hard.

 

“Could be better,” Rose grunts out pushing off of Martha’s body as she rushes the other biker. Martha twists so half of her back is holding the door open so she could see Rose in action. 

 

Rose ducks a punch, her hands coming up to push into the guy’s chest, but it barely moves him. Martha bites down hard on her bottom lip as she watches on. She wants to help, but she would most likely only get in the way. Plus, she was needed to hold open the lift doors.

 

Rose backs away until she’s stood in front of the lift opening, her stance wide as she prepares for the biker’s attack. He comes at her with his hands out to grab her, his leather creaking as he does so and Martha can’t help but think it sounds like a fart. Rose backs away from his reach, leaning over into the lift shaft. Martha holds her breath as Rose turns her body as the biker’s momentum propels him to fall through the opening. Rose is leaning forward so she won’t fall with him, but the biker’s hand shoots out to grab her ankle, making her fall to the ground.

 

She splays out onto the hospital floor, her hands outstretched above her to grab at nothing but air and tiled flooring. Martha was already on her way to help Rose when Rose shouts at her to let go of the doors. She grabs Rose’s hands and pulls with all her strength and looks on as Rose’s ankle gets caught between the doors before her shoe slips off her foot. Rose yanks her leg up as her shoe falls away and the doors close with the two bikers and Rose’s trainer on the other side.

 

They stay laying on the floor for a minute or two, breathing heavily as they try to calm themselves. Martha is the first to move, crawling around to have a look at Rose’s ankle, which was already turning swollen and angry red.

 

“You okay?” Martha asks her as she rolls the ankle around slowly. Rose winces and nods her head.

 

“’M fine,” she pants out before moving to stand. Martha knows that she couldn’t stop her, so she quickly gets to her feet to help Rose slowly stand. Martha gets a better look at Rose as she does so, noting her rumpled and frizzled hair, her split lip and the twinkle of laughter in her eyes.

 

“You’re completely mad,” Martha tells her. Rose gives her a smile as she brushes dirt off herself.

 

“I do look a bit daft with the one shoe,” Rose agrees, bending to take it off before shoving it in her jacket pocket. “Lost a pair of pants in Tokyo and now my trainers on the moon. What’s next?”

 

“What were they? And where were they from, the planet Zovirax?” Martha asks before blinking. “Hang on, did you say you lost a pair of pants in Tokyo?”

 

“I dunno what they were, but they ain’t dead. Tha’s only a two storey fall. At most, they broke a leg,” Rose says ignoring her last question. Martha figures she can re-ask it later when they weren’t running out of air on the moon. She hands back the futuristic alien pencil and Rose pockets it.

 

“So,” Martha pants. “Find the Judoon?”

 

“Find the Judoon,” Rose repeats in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no frying of the sonic for her.


	4. The Snowglobe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Martha save the moon and everyone on it, excluding one Plasmavore of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found some time to post this, so I hope y'all enjoy the last chapter before part three!

They pass a hall where patients are piled up on either side of, oxygen masks covering a few of their faces. Martha spots Swales and walks up to her.

 

“How much oxygen is there?” she asks as she looks over the people before her.

 

“Not enough for all these people. We’re going to run out,” Swales tells her with a worried look on her face.

 

“Are you okay?” Rose asks them both. Martha nods trying to get her breathing back under control, but her lungs feel like they’re on fire.

 

“Running on adrenaline,” Martha pants out and Rose grins at her.

 

“Tell me about it.”

 

“I’m holding up,” Swales tells them, her hands were shaking as she hands another patient an oxygen mask. Rose smiles at her.

 

“Good girl,” she says to Swales patting her on the shoulder before walking off down the hall. Martha follows behind her, smiling as Rose’s feet slap against the linoleum floors. Rose looks over her shoulder as if she knew Martha was making fun of her, a smile on her own face.

 

Before either of them could say anything, though, a Judoon walks down the hall and Rose’s attention snaps to it.

 

“Excuse me,” she calls out. The Judoon looks towards her, his ears twitching as he recognises her. “We’ve found the plasmavore.”

 

“Lead on,” he grunts out and Rose turns to direct him back to Mr. Stoker’s office when she pauses.

 

“Er, Martha, why don’t you lead.” Martha hides a smile as she takes the lead.

 

“Its this way,” she tells them and turns back around to Mr. Stoker’s office.

 

\--

 

“She’s gone,” Martha says incredulously as she opens Mr. Stoker’s office door. “She was here.”

 

The Judoon enters the room and scans Mr. Stoker’s body. “Deceased,” he states monotonously. Rose makes a small noise and Martha looks over at her to see her looking at the one picture Mr. Stoker had on his desk. It was of him and his daughter at a University.

 

The Judoon turns to walk back out of the office and Martha steps behind the desk to close the man’s eyes. Martha can hear Rose calling for the Judoon to wait and she exists the office to see them a little further down the hall.

 

“We know what she looks like,” Rose is telling the Judoon whose ears are twitching again.

 

“Explain,” the Judoon demands and Rose opens her mouth to describe Mrs. Florence when something catches her eye.

 

“Wait,” she says again as she steps towards something, squinting to get a better look. Martha stretches her neck out to look around the Judoon to see a flashing light coming from the MRI room. That didn’t look good.

 

They approach slowly and Martha is shocked to see the Judoon following Rose’s lead on this. When they get back to Earth, she’s seriously going to demand Rose explain what all her ID meant.

 

“Stay here,” Rose whispers before walking inside the room, leaving Martha and the Judoon crouching low by the door. 

 

“Have you seen them?” Rose’s voice drifts to them from the open door. “There are these great big space rhino’s around!”

 

“You!” Mrs. Florence spits out.

 

“Hello,” Rose greets brightly, probably waving a hand at the alien, Martha thinks rolling her eyes.

 

“What happened to my Slabs?” Mrs. Florence asks her.

 

“Oh, sorry,” Rose says not sounding the least bit sorry. “Had to drop ‘em where they couldn’t hurt nobody.” There’s a scuffling and Rose’s voice is fainter as she walks further into the room.

 

“So, wha’cha got cookin’ here? Is it suppos’ta be making that noise?” Rose asks innocently and Martha has to hold in a snort. 

 

“You wouldn’ understand,” Mrs. Florence tells her flippantly.

 

“Probably not,” Rose agrees. “But why not impress me with your intellect.”

 

“I increased the magnetic setting to fifty thousand tesla,” Mrs. Florence says after a beat of silence.  _ Always stroke the mad alien’s ego _ , Martha notes smiling as Florence spills out her plan.

 

“That’s a bit much, innit?”

 

“It’ll send out a magnetic pulse that’ll fry the brain stems of every living thing within two hundred and fifty miles. Except for me, safe in this room,” Mrs. Florence boasts. Martha covers her mouth with a hand and the Judoon’s ears twitch as he listens.

 

“That’ll include the Earth,” Rose grits out.

 

“Only the side facing the moon,” Mrs. Florence states as if it’s no consequence to her. “The other half will survive. Call it my little gift.”

 

“And you’ll be free to boost a Judoon ship,” Rose concludes.

 

“Quite so.”

 

“You won’t get away with it,” Rose tells her. Mrs. Florence laughs.

 

“Oh, but I already have, my dear. They have already scanned me. I passed as human,” Mrs. Florence imparts smugly. Martha can see other Judoon marching down the hall and stands up to get out of the way as three of them bust into the MRI room. She sneaks up behind them as she hears Mrs. Florence pretend to be human.

 

“Plasmavore, you are charged with the crime of murdering the child princess of Patrival Regency Nine,” a Judoon tells her and Mrs. Florence drops her startled human act.

 

“Well, she deserved it!” She spits at them. “Those pink cheeks and those blonde curls and that simpering voice. She was begging for the bite of a Plasmavore!”

 

“Then you confess?” a Judoon asks.

 

“Confess?” Mrs. Florence scoffs. “I’m proud of it!” She stands up straighter, raising her chin at them.

 

“Verdict, guilty. Sentence, execution,” a Judoon states and points the scanner at her. Only, instead of emitting a blue light, it fires out some type of laser that reduces Mrs. Florence to ash.

 

“Case closed,” the Judoon who killed Mrs. Florence says. “Our jurisdiction has ended. Judoon will evacuate.”

 

“But what about what she did to the MRI?” Martha asks as she steps through the group and waves an arm at the whining MRI machine.

 

“Not our problem,” a Judoon tells her and Martha scoffs.

 

“Well, there’s where you’re wrong,” Rose says as she steps towards the leader, the one who executed Mrs. Florence. “Because what’s it gonna do for your reputation if she kills millions of humans after she’s been executed by you lot? How’s it gonna look for those who pay for your services?”

 

The Judoon’s ears twitch as he takes in her words. He waves a hand and another Judoon goes over to the machine and points his scanner at the MRI. The MRI is gone in another beam of laser and Rose nods before patting the leader on the shoulder.

 

“Now, I’ll show you where I stashed her Slabs,” she says walking off and expecting them to follow her. Martha sinks down the wall to the floor as they leave. She doesn’t know how Rose or the Judoon are still standing. Her head was heavy and light at the same time and her body ached all over.

 

“Snowglobe,” she pants out before fainting.

 

\--

 

Martha wakes to the sound of an earthquake. She stands slowly, smacking her lips together, her head screaming as the room spins.

 

“Rose?” She calls out, but she’s alone in the room. She walks out towards the lobby hoping to catch sight of the other woman, but they were now back on Earth and Martha instinctively knew that Rose had vanished.

 

\--

 

She’s in the back of an ambulance with an oxygen mask over her face when she hears her sister call out to her.

 

“Oh, god! I thought you were dead!” Tish shouts as she places her hands on Martha’s shoulders to take in the fact that her sister was really alive. “What happened? It was so weird, because the police wouldn’t say. They didn’t have a clue. And I tried phoning. Mum’s on her way, but she can’t get through. They’ve closed off all the roads.” Martha says nothing as she breathes in the much need oxygen. She just lets her sister get all her worry out, happy to be fussed over, but sad that Rose had left her.

 

“There’s thousands of people trying to get in. The whole city’s come to a halt. And dad phoned because it’s on the news. He was crying,” Tish tells her, and Martha tries to act surprised, but she’s really just wanting a lie down. “Oh, what a mess. What happened? I mean, what really happened? Where were you?”

 

\--

 

Martha slowly gets ready for Leo’s birthday party. She really didn’t feel up to it, but had urged her family to go ahead with the plans because she didn’t want to spoil her brother’s 21st on account of her. Her radio was playing in the background and she heard Morgenstern’s voice over the air.

 

_ “I was there. I saw it happen,” _ he states in awe.  _ “And I feel uniquely privileged. I looked out at the surface of the moon. I saw the Earth, suspended in space, and it all just proves Mr. Saxon right. We’re not alone in the Universe. There’s life out there. Wild and extraordinary life.” _ Martha snorts as she shuts it off.

 

She wasn’t dismissing what he said, but it was _ how _ he said it. Sure, she felt awed to see the Earth and know she was standing on the moon, but nothing was purely good. The Judoon were perfectly fine with leaving them with an exploding MRI machine because they had already gotten their man. She also knew that just by studying medicine. Some of the breakthroughs that were made in history, killed just as many lives as the method saved.

 

She grabs her keys and heads out, taking a look up at the night sky, at the moon she had stood on just mere hours ago. She smiles as she takes it in before looking back down to the Earth.

 

\--

 

“I am not staying in there to be insulted!” Annalise shouts storming out of the tavern holding Leo’s party.

 

“She didn’t mean it, sweetheart,” Clive says as he chases after her. “She was just saying you look healthy.”

 

“No,” Francine calls as she steps outside as well. “I did not. I said orange.” There was a smirk on her face.

 

“Clive, that woman is disrespecting me. She’s never liked me,” Annalise pouts.

 

“Oh, I can’t think why, after you stole my husband.”

 

“I was seduced,” Annalise sniffs. “I’m entirely innocent. Tell her, babe.”

 

“And then she has a go at Martha,” Francine continues. “Practically accused her of making the whole thing up.”

 

“Mum,” Martha says wearily. “I don’t mind. Just leave it.” She hates it when they have a big row like this.

 

“Oh, I’ve been to the moon!” Annalise says mockingly. “ As if. They were drugged. It said so on the news.”

 

“Since when did you watch the news?” Francine asks defending her daughter. “You can’t handle Quiz Mania.”

 

“Annalise started it,” Tish weighs in. “She did. I heard her.”

 

“Tish, don’t make it worse,” Leo calls out. Tish clicks her tongue.

 

“Oh, come off it, Leo. What did she buy you again? Soap. A seventy five pence soap.”

 

“Oh, I’m never talking to your family again!” Annalise shouts storming off again.

 

“Oh, stay,” Francine calls out after her tauntingly. “Have a night out with Clive.”

 

“Don’t you dare. I’m putting my foot down,” Clive tell Annalise.

 

“You coming?” Annalise demands more than asks.

 

“This is me, putting my foot down,” Clive says again before going after his girlfriend. Francine scoffs.

 

“Doing it for the last twenty five years!” She shouts.

 

“Please,” Clive begs after Annalise.

 

“Clive, stop, now!” Francine commands.

 

“Mum, don’t. I-” Tish starts, but Martha isn’t paying attention to her family’s squabble as she notices Rose across the street. Rose waves at her before walking down an alley. Martha knows she should follow after her family, but she is curious about the other woman and so she crosses the street.

 

“I went to the moon today,” Martha tells her as she comes around the corner to see Rose standing before a blue police box.

 

“Yes, you did,” Rose confirms and Martha feels something in her chest loosen. She knew she had been up there, but hearing someone else say it, someone who wasn’t saying it in front of a camera, just made it become that more real.

 

“You left me,” Martha accuses once she get’s over the thrill of seeing Rose again. Rose bites her lip and tugs at the bottom of her jacket.

 

“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t feel like talking to the police about what happened,” Rose says shrugging her shoulders in a ‘sorry’ gesture.

 

“And you just so happened to know where my brother’s party would be.”

 

“Oh, that. Well, I was…,” Rose bites her lip again before drawing in a breath. “I was wonderin’ if you wanted to travel with me. As a thank you. I couldn’t have done any of that without you.” Martha might’ve thought she was just saying that, but Rose’s eyes told her the truth of it. She was being serious and Martha feels a burst of pride ripple through her before she deflates.

 

“I can’t. I’ve got exams. I’ve got things to do. I have to go into town first thing and pay the rent. I’ve got my family going mad,” Martha lists off.

 

“If it helps,” Rose says hesitantly. “I can travel in time, too.”

 

“Get out of here,” Martha says not believing her.

 

“But I can,” Rose protests.

 

“Come on, now. That’s going too far.” Rose purses her lips before squaring her shoulders.

 

“I can prove it,” she says going into the blue box behind her. Martha has seen a lot of things today, rhino aliens, the Earth from the moon’s surface, a woman being reduced to dust before her, but this tops it all. The blue box fades from the alley like it was never there and Martha has to run her hand through the spot where it was because she couldn’t believe her eyes. The wheezing noise comes back and Martha jumps back in surprise as it reappears.

 

Rose bounces out of the doors with a smug grin on her face and a-  _ A tie on her neck _ . “Told ya,” she says, practically sings it.

 

“ _ No _ ,” Martha denies, her voice deep in disbelief. “But that was this morning! Did you? Oh, my god! You can travel in time!” Martha was ecstatic. “Hang on,” she says stopping her bouncing on her balls of her feet. “If you could see me this morning, why didn’t you tell me not to go in to work?”

 

“Well,” Rose says scratching the back of her neck. “I don’t know the official words for it, but I couldn’t tell you. That would’ve created a paradox an’, trust me, you do not want to know what would happen after that.” Rose shudders and Martha nods, believing her.

 

“That’s your spaceship?” She asks nodding to the box behind Rose, changing the subject.

 

“Yeah,” Rose says with a fond smile on her face. “She’s called the TARDIS.”

 

“It’s made of wood,” Martha says as she walks up to it, knocking on the doorframe. “And it doesn’t look like there’ll be much room. We’d be a bit intimate.” Rose grins at her bobbing her head towards the door.

 

Not wanting to waste time, Martha opens the door and feels her eyes bug out of her head. Okay,  _ this _ was the topper. This blew everything else out the water. 

 

“No, no, no, no,” Martha whispers as she walks around the box and then back into it where she sees a room bigger than her flat. “But it’s a box! But it’s  _ huge _ !” Martha walks around it again before joining Rose, whose inside. “How does it do that? It’s wood. It’s like a box with that room just rammed in. It’s- It’s bigger on the inside,” Martha says in awe spinning in place to take it all in.

 

“That okay?” Rose asks shutting the door before waking to stand next to her.

 

“It’s more than okay!” Martha says laughing.

 

“Good,” Rose says nodding. “Ready to go?”

 

“But is there a crew, like a navigator and stuff? A ship this big…,” Martha trails off when she sees the sad look on Rose’s face.

 

“‘S just me,” Rose tells her quietly. “She used to belong to my best mate, but… Well, now she’s mine.” Martha could tell she didn’t want to talk about it, so she just walks past her to the jump seat off to the side.

 

“So, where we going, then?” Rose gives her a grin with a bit of tongue showing between her teeth. 

 

“I dunno. Only one way to find out. You ready?”

 

Martha gives her an answering grin. “Yes.” Rose pulls down on a lever and the whole room shakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part three, The Shakespeare Code won't be up until prolly this Wednesday or Thursday depending on how things go, but I'll try to post it as soon as possible!
> 
> PS.  
> I'm currently working on another project as well and was hoping to get another opinion on something, so if you're trans i would appreciate your knowledge on this other project. i just want to know if i did a character justice or not is all. any help would be appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> this first part needed to happen in the actual show, where the Doctor gives her some friggin' answers and she asks after Jack, because how do you live with someone for however long Jack stayed with them and not wanna know where they are??? total slack on the writers part.


End file.
